It's been a long time since we discussed the Cuda Program. Yet, wasn't there suppose to be two versions??? The first the standard missile half the size of the Amraam. While, the second would be the same missile but with a booster.

Remember, LREW offically has nothing to do with SACM. People here and on the web (including me) have suggested that a 2-stage or elongated SACM might work well to achieve LREW's requirements, but the closest thing to the USAF also suggesting that has been this slide from AFRL, where in the top right / far term it mentions "Multiple variants of basic SACM concept" with "long range airborne targets" being a capability for such a variant:

I would suggest "development" needs to be carefully read. The 2016 Raytheon contract was $14m on both SACM and MSDM so not exactly the amount of money that suggest fielding anytime soon. Many programs don't progress beyond this stage of concept studies. LM probably funded the CUDA development as a private program which suggest they think there's a potential market for it.

weasel1962 wrote:I would suggest "development" needs to be carefully read. The 2016 Raytheon contract was $14m on both SACM and MSDM so not exactly the amount of money that suggest fielding anytime soon. Many programs don't progress beyond this stage of concept studies. LM probably funded the CUDA development as a private program which suggest they think there's a potential market for it.

From the AvWeek link above:

"The U.S. Air Force has funded a flight test demonstration program for Lockheed Martin’s Cuda air-to-air missile, pushing the concept forward more than five years after it first appeared, the company ..."

ll-weather, all-environment medium range air-to-air missile system in response to United States Air Force, United States Navy, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other Allied operational requirements through 2024.

There's also no procurement funds allocated beyond 2024.

I recon that they don't want to buy any more AMRAAMs after 2024. There's always room for delays, but I'd rather see something new in the inventory as opposed to AIM-120E, especially given the fact that one replacement program has already been canned years ago (what was the acronym for that...?)

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control on 14 November conducted a successful initial ballistic flight test of its new M-SHORAD Future Interceptor from a Stryker Maneuver SHORAD Launcher (MSL) at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Lockheed Martin conducted an initial ballistic flight test of its new M-SHORAD Future Interceptor on 14 November 2018. (Robin Hughes)Lockheed Martin conducted an initial ballistic flight test of its new M-SHORAD Future Interceptor on 14 November 2018. (Robin Hughes)

"The 5 inch diameter interceptor fits in the same envelope as the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missile currently being integrated on the MSL for the US Army's Stryker-based interim manoeuvre SHORAD [short-range air-defence] capability, and provides significantly more range and manoeuvrability," a Lockheed Martin spokesperson told Jane's .

"The driver for this development is how to address air-breathing threats for US Army manoeuvre forces beyond its current Stinger/Stryker capability," Tim Cahill, Vice President, Integrated Air and Missile Defense, at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control told Jane's . "We've designed a medium-size hit-to-kill for what we believe will be the [US] Army's range requirement for an M-SHORAD missile. The imperative of M-SHORAD is range and capability in the size of a missile that is manageable and affordable; Stinger is performance limited, other missiles are too long. So I believe it should be a hit-to-kill missile for M-SHORAD, and we will follow the PAC-3 MSE formula for both future land and sea applications," he added.

Lockheed Martin has not disclosed additional specific detail on the M-SHORAD Future Interceptor, including its interception range, weight, and homing guidance.

Now that sounds like a good idea. Stinger is MANPAD missile and as such has pretty low performance level (range, altitude, speed, effect on target). M-SHORAD missile will definitely have huge improvement in all these areas. Looking at the nose, it looks like a radar homing missile and I think it has some sort of MMW seeker. Maybe Longbow Hellfire MMW seeker variant or similar. This would naturally do wonders to all-weather capabilities and is damn difficult to decoy due to imaging capability of such seeker. I'd also bet that this missile would be pretty effective against most enemy vehicles short of heavy tanks depending on seeker details.